Saturday, 10 December 2011

Seriously Great Gifts for your Foodie Friends

'Tis the season! If those gadgets you gave your foodie friends last year didn't go over as well as you were hoping, take heart! Here are 7 gift suggestions that should please any foodie. Well, maybe 8 if you count the adorable Alessi figurine above. Hubby just bought me that. Thank you again darling.

I know I'd love to see any of these goodies under my tree That is if I didn't own them already.

1. Zila Tortaforma Cake Moulds

Hungarian company Zila has launched a unique and versatile line of silicon moulds. One side of the mould has indentations that you can fill to make perfect wedges. Flip it over and you can make a cake with indentations or you can cut between the wedges to make perfect portions, each with a wedge-shaped indentation that you can fill with whatever your heart desires. They can withstand temperatures up to 260°C so you can use them to make baked goods, candy, gelatin based or frozen desserts, even ice. Clever!

2. Spatula with Built-in Thermometer

A good friend of mine gave me this Matfer-Bourgeat Exoglass Spatula as a gift for candy making and I've since tossed all of my other thermometers to the back of the drawer. The thin thermometer slides into the spatula so you can stir and measure temperature at the same time. It's 39cms, (15") long so your hands remain at a safe distance from whatever it is that you're stirring.

3. Craggles Trivets
Last month I posted about Craggles by Andreas Born of Swiss company, Zak! Designs and I think they'd make a perfect gift for both foodies and hostesses. Enclosed in a little watch case about 3" wide, are 8 little white bloated jacks made of silicon. Each of them can support a weight up to 1kg and are safe up to a temperature of 220°C.

4. Ultra-Fine Japanese Sieves

These ultra-fine sieves will strain out even the tiniest particles from whatever you run through them. I use them to clarify broths, strain tea, juices and to separate liquids from oils. I first found them at the Aritsugu Knife Shop in the Nishiki Market in Kyoto and years later I bought them for my friends from Tokyo's Kappabashi Street where they were easy to find and a lot cheaper. You can also find them in the cookware stores along Shanghai Street in Hong Kong. I've never found them outside of Asia but if you have a local retailer who carries Japanese goods, he may be able to order them for you.

I love this salad spinner. It's so beautifully designed and it's made from high quality, thick plastic and rubber. Best of all, it collapses to a quarter of it's full height so it takes up hardly any storage space. If you're in a hurry to make that salad, it also has a little button to press to stop it from spinning.

6. The Art of Eating Cookbook

I've been a subscriber to Edward Behr's quarterly magazine, The Art of Eating for a few years now and I think he's one of the most intelligent and informed food writers on the scene today. I got really excited when I heard about his new The Art of Eating cookbook and I can hardly wait to dive into it.

7. Retro Dual Timer

So what do you do when you're baking two things at the same time each with a different finish time? Use your new Dulton dual timer of course! There's one timer on each side so you can time two things at once or set a warning bell on the first timer before the second timer rings. I also love the retro colours.